LIONS IN A FLAP
“When we needed them to stand up, Jai Thompson just worked his backside off, and his brother Marcus had a really god game,” Morphet said.
“Trent Thompson was good for us when he went forward — it was one out of the hat — and Jye Walker was really good off a wing.
“But in the second half we had 22 players who wanted to get their hands dirty and that was the difference.”
Former Blue and Cat Smedts played much of the first half out of the goalsquare, where Morphet revealed he was likely to play mostly. “Yeah, I think so,” Morphet said. “In the second half of the game I moved him up onto the wing and he really created a spark. Billie’s really adaptable, but you’ll see him more forward than not.”
Freshly axed Geelong defender Tom Ruggles copped plenty of attention from the Seagulls, but Morphet had no problems with the treatment of his star.
“They’ve got to expect that. He’s coming back from a high level and people are going to test them and that’s fair enough,” he said.
“They’ve got to adjust to that and realise that they’re here to play good football. I thought ‘Ruggsy’ was good off half back and that’s probably where we’ll see him.”
The Lions are set to get stronger with Lucas Boyd, Tom Gordon, Matt Miller and Jesse Lothian available to face Newtown & Chilwell.